The invention concerns a weapon system, comprising a weapon, an aiming mechanism for controlling elevation and angle of the weapon, and a unit of ammunition to be fired with the weapon.
The main weapon in a battle tank is normally controlled with a fire-control computer and an associated aiming mechanism. German Patent document DE 41 37 819 A1 discloses storage of ammunition-specific data for identifying the ammunition, such as ammunition type, batch or lot number, date of manufacture etc., directly on a data memory card arranged on the ammunition. Following the insertion of the respective cartridge into the weapon chamber, these data are read automatically with a scanning device and transmitted to the fire-control computer. Taking into account these data, as well as the target-specific and system-specific data (e.g. "system error"), the fire-control computer then generates aiming signals for controlling the aiming mechanism.
A disadvantage of this known weapon system is that only the ammunition identified by the fire-control computer can be fired, meaning only the ammunition previously detected by type. Since the identification of the ammunition according to type is made before the ammunition batch is delivered (otherwise the respective battle tank would not be ready for action when the ammunition is delivered), the fire-control computer is programmed with a unit data record that is created on the basis of developmental patterns. However, the average behavior of the actually delivered ammunition as a rule does not correspond to the fixedly programmed unit firing table. Some ammunition batches consequently deviate greatly from the firing table of the fire-control computer. Even small deviations from batch to batch within the same type of ammunition frequently lead to a somewhat changed firing table. The resulting decline in the hitting accuracy must either be accepted, or the program of the respective fire-control computer must be adjusted correspondingly to the respective batch.
Another disadvantage of the known weapon system with identifiable ammunition, meaning with previously detected ammunition type, is that developmental technical improvements in the ammunition to improve the combat efficiency cannot be utilized immediately because the rather involved steps of "type detecting" with a corresponding computer chip-card must first be taken for the complete fleet of battle tanks. For that reason, the "resources of good ammunition batches" cannot be utilized to increase combat efficiency because the "old type detecting" must take place for known weapon systems and continuous ammunition production. Added to this is the fact that a present-day battle tank has only a limited number of plug-in ports for the new type-detecting.
The German Patent Document DE-OS 2 059 665 discloses a device for determining a propellant powder temperature of an electrically ignitable cartridge inside a weapon chamber. The respective temperature data are transmitted to the fire-control computer and serve to correct the aiming and/or ignition signals determined by the fire-control computer.